Array of groups from across state urge passage of child support bill

A huge array of organizations from around the state – from the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office to the YMCA of Lewiston, from Catholic Charities of Idaho to the Idaho Head Start Association to St. Vincent de Paul of North Idaho – has signed a letter to state lawmakers urging them to pass child support enforcement legislation during Monday’s special session of the Idaho Legislature. “Inaction on this issue will have far-reaching and unintended consequences that will detrimentally impact thousands of families and disrupt communities statewide,” the letter says. “However, your leadership will provide Idaho the opportunity to preserve our effective and well-run child support enforcement program, as well as uphold the integrity of Idaho families and communities.”

You can read the full letter here , along with the list of the 55 groups signing on, from the Priest River Ministries and the North Idaho Violence Prevention Center to the Oneida Crisis Center and the Idaho Youth Ranch.

Meanwhile, Idaho Statesman reporter Bill Dentzer has a roundup here of messages that are going out to lawmakers in advance of Monday’s special session, including the advocates’ letter and the Idaho Voices for Children report on child support enforcement that was released this morning, plus lobbying from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which has criticized the child support enforcement bill. Dentzer writes, “Groups such as the Idaho Freedom Foundation are pressing lawmakers to hold fast and reject the revised rule, citing state sovereignty and privacy concerns that were the basis of the earlier rejection.” You can read his full report here .

Freedom Foundation lobbyist Parrish Miller has been among the loudest critics of the bill. Shortly after Gov. Butch Otter announced he was calling lawmakers back for a special session to address the issue, Miller sent these two tweets: “The once ‘libertarian’ Otter has called a special session of #IDleg on May 18 to coerce Idaho courts into enforcing foreign court orders” and “Will #IDleg bend over and take it from the feds or will they resist being forever shackled to the unjust dictates of foreign courts?” The foundation’s website currently features articles by both Miller and foundation President Wayne Hoffman criticizing the child support bill, which Hoffman says “remains flawed.”

State officials have been meticulously refuting claims that the bill would lead to imposing foreign law in Idaho, and Otter and legislative leaders have worked with the bill’s leading House opponents to craft an amended version that will be taken up on Monday. The state Department of Health & Welfare has posted a Q-and-A here on concerns opponents have raised about the bill, and an analysis here of the changes between SB 1067 , which lawmakers rejected on a 9-8 vote on the final day of the legislative session, and the proposed new version . Also, Idaho Public TV reporter Melissa Davlin has a breakdown here of the changes from the old to the new versions of the bill.